The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and RaySearch announced a partnership last week to implement the new RayCare oncology information system at all of MD Anderson’s sites in the Greater Houston area.

“I am proud that MD Anderson Cancer Center has joined us in the RayCare project,” Johan Löf, CEO of RaySearch, said in a statement. “Solving the coordination, safety and efficiency needs of one of the world’s largest cancer care providers is one of our most exciting challenges to date.”

MD Anderson treats about 130,000 patients per year and has more than 20,000 employees. A system like RayCare that consolidates the software systems in different departments can help their operations run smoother.

RayCare was designed specifically to support the complex logistical challenges in modern, large-scale radiation therapy centers. It includes the high-performance radiation therapy algorithms available in the RayStation treatment planning system and features for clinical resource optimization, workflow automation and adaptive radiation therapy.

Integrating the medical oncology, radiation oncology and surgical oncology software systems saves time, reduces the rate of complications and risk of errors that can occur when transferring information between systems.

MD Anderson is also helping to develop RayCare — which is still under development and slated for launch in the second half of 2017 — and is planning to translate any research findings into practical solutions that other cancer clinics can use.

MD Anderson is also using the RayStation system to develop clinical treatment plans, which will be the first phase of the planned clinical rollout.

In 2015, MD Anderson signed a purchase agreement with Raystation for the treatment planning system, citing the importance of optimizing leading-edge hardware functionality while improving optimization and offering a ‘modern’ working environment.

“Getting RayStation into MD Anderson and working with the team there is a great opportunity – we look forward to developing a research relationship that can lead to novel and exciting functionality,” Marc Mlyn, president of RaySearch Americas, said at the time of the agreement. “We are pleased to have the opportunity to show how RayStation can positively impact the center’s workflow and help it achieve its patient care goals."

At that time, MD Anderson outlined intentions to implement approximately thirty licenses throughout the radiation therapy department, twenty for clinical use and ten for research, to investigate which technologies have the biggest impact on practice.

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